Can someone shed some light on this. I hit a deer the other night and shot a bit high. My arrow had blood and fat on it. Is the dead spot above or below the spine? I"ve been told by many hunters that it is below the spine, but how can this be if the shot is nonlethal?

You can't hit a deer in the chest cavity and have it not be lethal. Its a pressurized system. So the myth you can hit them below the spine and have them walk away is just that. A myth.

Now to answer your question I do believe if you hit it HIGH HIGH HIGH HIGH it could have skimmed the back but there is a lot of variables on that, you have to have the exact right angle and you had to hit it just right to not cause the type of damage to be lethal.

Ryan.

there is no "void" . period.

I agree. There is no "dead spot" below the spine. If you hit it below the spine, that deer is definitely dead somewhere.

There is a dead spot and I do know first hand! I shot a 6pt buck with my bow just above the lungs and below the spine and it ran off, I tracked forever looking for this deer, a month or so later I shot the same deer with my shotgun (or shot at, I did not find a hole in him) and he was so weak that he went down and went into some type of seizure and knocked both his antlers off. The area where I had shot him with my bow was bad, green meat!

The reason for the dead spot on deer is simple. Many hunters don't butcher their own deer or know deer anatomy as well as they should. The spine of a deer is much lower than most hunters think and a shot just over the spine, seen just for a brief instant, becomes a "dead spot" or "void" shot.


Mitch

I do cut up my own deer and I do know the deer's anatomy. The only reason I asked the question was to put the myth to bed. I always assumed the shot was a tad high and settled in just under the hide. Thanks for responding.